THE original stars of television’s A-Team have declared war on the £125million Hollywood movie re-make for featuring too much sex and violence.

Man mountain Mr T, who played B.A. Baracus in all 97 episodes of the Eighties hit, said: “They offered me a cameo role but I turned it down because I knew what was coming.

“People die in the film and there’s plenty of sex but when we did it no one got hurt and it was all played for fun and family entertainment. These seem to be elements nobody is interested in any more.”

Mr T, 58, whose catchphrase “Pity the fool” was mimicked by a generation of young viewers, did attend last week’s premiere in LA but afterwards the star, real name Lawrence Tero, said: “It was too graphic for me. I’ve no doubt it will do big business at the box office but it’s nothing like the show we turned out every week.”

Original co-star Dirk Benedict, who played Templeton “Faceman” Peck in the Eighties, did take a cameo but rues his decision, saying: “If you blink, you’ll miss me. I kind of regret doing it because it’s a non-part. They wanted to be able to say ‘Oh yeah, the original cast are in it’ but we’re not. I’m on for a mere three seconds and I find that kind of insulting.”

The original cast also included the late George Peppard as John “Hannibal” Smith and Dwight Shultz as “Howling Mad” Murdock. Shultz, 62, also has a cameo but declined to comment.

The new version also features The Illusionist and Cellular actress ­Jessica Biel as Captain Charisa Sosa but Mr T said: “We ran on TV for five years without having to sex-up the show. You can’t get away with that these days.”

The original A-Team’s members were Vietnam War veterans on the run for a crime they did not commit. The new version features troops fresh from the battlefields of Iraq.

They too are attempting to prove their innocence of unfounded war crimes but Mr T said: “It saddens me that our light-hearted approach has been replaced by gritty realism.”